


The Swan of the Dark Lake

by steelneena



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-it fic, Quiet Minds fix it, Swan Princess canon divergence, SwanThief, Swanfire - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-01-21 06:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1540358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steelneena/pseuds/steelneena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma and Regina have defeated Zelena but they had no choice but to return everyone permanently to The Enchanted Forest in the process, including a memory-less Henry. Upon their arrival, they find that Rumpel no longer retains the powers of the Dark One, and they heard rumours of a new someone living in the Dark Castle, a malevolent presence that the inhabitants are calling the new Dark One. Drawn to Emma subconsciously he uses his magic and to abduct her, holding her prisoner and turning her into a Swan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted on FFN, LJ and Tumblr.

Prologue

  
Storybrooke, Maine, The World Without Magic:

They wouldn’t let her into the room. His casket was there. Leroy and David barred her entering, but Emma was not going to have any of it.   
"David, Leroy, you let me in that room or so help me-" David cut her off.

"Emma, you can’t. I can’t let you," The urgency in his tone stopped her persistant efforts. Emma looked him in the eye, reproachfully, suspiciously.

"What’s going on? Something is wrong. There’s something that you’re not telling me," She looked between the two men trying to guage their responses. David, she had found, was a pretty easy read. He wore his emotions plain upon his face. He looked to her, in that moment, drawn. "What aren’t you telling me?" There was an edge of desperation to her voice. This was his funeral. This was her- this was-  
"Emma, Neal’s body is gone,"

* * *

 

 David began and Emma’s mouth fell open in shock. “Someone has been with his body at all times. When we transported it here, and set it up for the viewing… Emma, we opened it and it was empty. There is nothing for you to see, I…I’m sorry,” For a few moments it was all Emma could do not to fall over from shock.

"Could he be?" Her question was only half formed as it tumbled from her lips and she could see her father’s eyes grow sad.

"We’re thinking that it was most likely Zelena, Emma. Maybe he’s part of her spell or-"

"No! No, it…he…No. That’s not true. I won’t accept it. I can’t," Her thoughts were swirling at an alarming rate, and David reached over, touching her shoulder.

"Emma, we can’t tell anyone about this. Henry…" She looked up at him, startled. "We have to go through with the funeral. Maybe…" He hesitated and she braced herself for his next words. "Maybe it’s for the best, Sweetheart,"

Emma said nothing.

* * *

The funeral was a properly sombre affair. The closed casket had surprised many people and disappointed Henry, but no one questioned ‘Emma’s decision’. As she went to toss her shovel full of dirt over the grave of her once lover, Emma worried at the Swan pendant hanging around her neck, the talisman a cruel reminder. Neal had always been so full of hope.

She was afraid to cling to it.

That didn’t change the fact that hope was all she had left.

* * *

Middle of Nowhere, The Enchanted Forest:

At first he thought he’d gone blind, and sure, blind was better than dead, but it still was as horrible a fate as he could think of. Slowly his vision went from black to blurred. His head hurt something fierce and he could feel a sinking, bleeding sort of sensation, except he was certain that when a person bled, they bled out, and not in. He raised his head as far as he could and lifted a hand. A symbol was burned into his palm and it had grown…black.

"No…" He coughed the syllable hoarsely. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew that whatever it was, it was evil. Groggily he sat up. Lush forest surrounded him and a patchwork of moonlight filtered through the leaves. "No. This… this isn’t right," Intuitively, he could tell that he wasn’t where he should be. That something was horribly, horribly wrong. He surveyed his surroundings. He lay in a small clearing in the copse of trees. A perfectly circular clearing. Something glinted in the moonlight and his eyes were immediately drawn to it. He squinted, trying desperately to will his still hazy vision better. It was a dagger, crooked and curved and inscribed.

A sharp pain accompanied by a tingling sensation tore his attention away from the ominous dagger and he looked once again at his hand. The seeping blackness had traveled up his arm, creeping, growing, encroaching.

"No, oh God, what’s wrong with me?" he whispered in terror. The black shot up his arm in a sudden burst and he cried out in pain; the action jolted his whole body and he stood on shaky legs, holding his arm away from him and staggered towards the shining blade. When it rested in front of him, he dropped wearily to his knees. With his good arm, he tentatively reached for the dagger. The handle felt warm under his hand, and the tingling sensation began to crawl it’s way up from the point where it made contact with his skin. He ignored it, and focused on the blade once more. In the moonlight, he could just barely make out the word inscribed, dark against the bright steel.

"Baelfire,"

The black reached his shoulder and scurried with ever increasing quickness to his chest, up his neck and traveled in tendrils up until it touched his eyes, spreading like black cracks against his skin.  
Memories ensconced him completely, memories of lifetimes before him, of men called ‘the Dark One’.

A hideous smile broke across his black veined skin.

"Baelfire, the Dark One,"


	2. Chapter 1

Emma didn’t even know where to begin when the entire population of Storybrooke found themselves in the Enchanted Forest. Henry - still without his memories- was beyond words, gazing around in awe at the surroundings of his new home.

It had taken all of Emma and Regina’s combined power to defeat the Wicked Witch, and the result was permanent relocation to the Enchanted Forest. There was no going back, and Henry… Emma could have lived with it if he had his memories, but he didn’t. And she still had no clue how to return them. Hook had kept mum about much of his time during the missing year, only telling them what they needed to know to get by. She trusted him about as far as she could throw him, though he’d been patient and accommodating to Henry in her requests for him to spend time telling her son about his late father.

She thumbed the pendant again.

It had become a habit, that, whenever she thought about Neal, Emma would touch the pendant. The last remaining tangible evidence of their love. Yes, she had Henry, but that was…different. Belle had told her that if Neal had the necklace with him in Storybrooke, and it had survived the trip to the Enchanted Forest, then he must have had it with him during the missing year. And, with a sincere look of conviction, the librarian had told her that it could mean only one thing.

True Love.

Her last hope.

They stood, all of them, in the castle courtyard, people mingling and searching out family and friends. Charming and Snow stood off to one side, conversing urgently with Regina and Rumpelstiltskin in hushed tones. Emma felt a tug at her sleeve and she broke her focus on the four to look at her son, who seemed overwhelmed but not unhappy.

"Mom, is this really real?" He sent a soulful gaze her way and Emma was overcome with affection for her son. "I mean, we’re really from here?" She knelt to his height, looking him in the eyes.

"Yeah, kid. We are. You were born back in the other world, but this is where I’m from, and where your Dad was from and my parents and his and our whole family. Actually, the entire town of Storybrooke calls this place home," He bit his lip.

"So Mary Margaret and David are Snow White and Prince Charming?"

"Yep,"

"And Mr. Gold is Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Tonight, I’ll fill you in, okay?" Emma placed her hands on his shoulders.

"You’re missing your memories, Henry, but we’ll take care of it. Your grandparents love you - on both sides of the family - and we’ll figure this out. Okay? I promise," Henry looked appeased.

"This is so weird, but I uh, think I could get used to it. I kinda like it here," When Emma smiled, it didn’t reach er her eyes.

"I love you, Henry,"

"I know, Mom, I know," Henry went silent and returned to observing the crowd around him and his surroundings, so Emma stood, and pulled him, one arm about his shoulders, to her side in a comforting gesture. It was a pleasant silence that overtook them in the bustle of the townsfolk.

"Emma!" Charming called to her. "Follow us. We’re heading to the council chambers," She looked down and saw Henry staring up at her with Neal’s eyes.

"Ready to see inside a real castle?"

"You bet,"

* * *

 

The council chamber was a large, open room. Emma was seated at the round table in the centre with her parents and their many advisers and close friends, and all eyes were on Rumpelstiltskin who stood, pacing, across from Emma.

"There is a dark presence in this land. I can feel it,"

"And it certainly isn’t you," Regina butted in, eyeing him warily. "You don’t look like…well, you,"

"No, dearie, I don’t and that’s what worries me about this presence. I no longer retain the power of the Dark One. It’s gone. I’m not sure when it was lost, but I can say for certain that I am no longer the powerful sorcerer I once was. I seem to have kept some small ability, but nothing so flashy as you’re all used too," Regina snorted at his disdainful tone, but he only frowned. "I’ve heard rumours that a new evil had made my castle it’s home. Perhaps we should investigate, yes?"

Charming put a hand to his forehead and rubbed, sighing and Snow bit her lip.

"I was hoping we could have some respite from villains and sinister plots," Her hand rested gently on her stomach. Anyday now, Emma knew, she could become a big sister. It was only a matter of time. "It seems, however, that I’m not going to be granted my wish. We’ll send out scouts and-"

"Snow, I think I should be the one to go, really," Charming interrupted, but the look that his wife gave him quieted his words.

"I want you with me when the baby is born. Please," Charming dipped his head in deference to her and then she continued. "Who will volunteer to go on this scouting mission?"

Emma felt the weight of their recent difficulties fall on her.

"I’ll go,"

"You most certainly will _not_!"

"I won’t allow it!"

Snow and Charming called out simultaneously. Hook strode from where he had been leaning against the wall.

"I agree with your parents, Emma, you-"

"No one asked you, Hook," Emma looked at her parents with determination. "I’m doing this. Whether you like it or not. Now who’s going to come with me?

* * *

In the end, Rumpelstiltskin, Hook, Belle, and Red had agreed to head the scouting party with Emma. Robin and several of his Merry Men had volunteered to accompany them for back up. That had been three days ago and Emma was seriously beginning to doubt her resilience as a rider of horses. She was sore everywhere from the constant riding and the company wasn’t much better.

Hook watched her every move, and Red had caught the eye of one of the Merry Men. Rumpel and Belle kept mostly to themselves, though Belle had thrown her a couple of reassuring smiles. Emma suspected that if Rumpel had still been the Dark One, things might have been different. Whatever magic he retained wasn’t enough to help his leg injury and it was obvious that it caused him a significant amount of pain. Of them all, Robin was the best company. He kept up a lively and encouraging conversation with her, mainly about his son, and asked her many questions about Henry. She was more than happy to answer as it kept her mind off of the impending sense of utter doom that had fallen across the group. It was growing as they neared the location of the Dark Castle. Emma could feel ominous waves of power roiling through the air around her, charging it like static. It was stifling and filled her senses to the brim. Even then, she felt as though she was suffocating.

They had been riding in relative silence when, as the front of the group, Rumpelstiltskin held his hand up, motioning the party to halt. above them, hidden in the mountains, rose the Dark Castle. A black fog hung around the area, and the trees looked sickly. A particularly strong wave of magic induced nausea rolled over Emma and she saw Rumpel flinch.

"The Dark One. He’s here,"


	3. Chapter 2

They had halted before a small clearing in the gale, where, before them, there stood a man. He was hooded in a brown cloak and his face had been obscured. Any features he might have had were unrecognizable through the shadowy mist that enveloped him. Emma strained to take in the details, instincts as a Bail Bondwoman winning out over any sense of unease that had washed over her in his presence. He was of medium build, and his hands - the only skin visible on him - were covered with spidering black lines, like veins.

There was a still, stifling silence and then he spoke.

"You come to my castle? Trespass upon my lands? You must be either very brave or very foolish," HIs voice was imbued with power, which distorted a rich baritone. He gestured broadly at their company with his hand. "Come now, unafraid to enter into my realm, but too frightened to speak? That doesn't seem right,"

"You have the power of the Dark One, though you could not have acquired it through the usual means. Tell me then, oh Dark One, how did you manage it?" It was Rumpelstiltskin who spoke, and Emma had to wonder if the insolent tone he used was the one that used to strike fear in the hearts of man when he had wielded the power of the dagger.

"The usual means?" The Dark One asked, and then laughed. Emma's breath caught in her throat. That laugh... "Are you referring, Rumpelstiltskin, to this?" He held his hand out, palm up and from a cloud of grey magic there appeared the gleaming dagger. "Of course, it needed to taste your blood first. How intrigued I am that you are not joined in death with your son, Neal," Emma heard Rumpel's breath catch at the mention of his beloved son, and her own fingers were quickly forming a fist, nails threatening to draw blood.

"It has not tasted my blood, not since I defeated Pan and killed myself. My Son returned me to life,"

"So then, we are at an impasse. You see, I am the Dark One now, no matter the fact that you do not know how it is possible," He paused, tilted his head, as if contemplating and "I've had enough of this pathetic charade. I will make you a deal," A gleam of white teeth shone from out of the black under his hood. He was smiling. "I shall let you all live to return to Charming's Kingdom, but I keep her," He raised a poisoned hand, and pointed at Emma.

"Me? No way you assh-" Before she could finish her abject exclamation, Emma found herself facing the traveling party, all of whom were shocked expressions. Frozen in place. One dark arm crooked around Emma's neck, holding her back against the Dark One. He inclined his head towards her ear, and she struggled against him. 

"Such a beautiful Princess deserves only the finest, don't you think?" She felt the magic tingle over her form and looked down to see herself swathed in a silvery white silk ball gown, slightly v-ed at the bodice and embellished with a flowering trellis of embroidery and jewels. Against her shoulders she could feel the telltale texture of tool embellishments. Even her hair had been swept up, the weight of a tiara resting on the crown of her head.

"Now, do we have a deal?" He asked. Emma could see Rumpelstiltskin's form shaking viciously, even though he was supposed to be frozen. The Dark One raised his free hand and her companions came to life once more.

"You cannot take her!" A voice rang out and Emma knew that it was Hook.

"Be silent!" Rumpel spoke harshly and the rabble quieted. Emma could feel the Dark One's even breaths, chest rising and falling behind her in anticipation. "We must flesh out the bargain. Ms. Swan?" He looked at her, waiting.

"I...I agree, but-"

"Then there must be terms. She won't be harmed. She will have comfort," Rumpel spoke both imploringly and imperatively. It was a strange combination.

"She will not be harmed, and will be comfortable. I desire simply something pretty to add to your former collection. But she is mine, now, do you understand? There will be no championing for her freedom," Her friends looked desolate, but Rumpel nodded, however unhappily.

"Is there anything else, Ms. Swan?" She shook her head. "Then make your deal," Emma opened her mouth, breath crystallizing in the air before her.

"I agree to the terms of the deal," His nose was brushing her ear, she could feel it.

"Then we've got a deal," he whispered hoarsely and she began to struggle once more, his closeness providing the perfect opportunity.

Though she could not see him, the hood of his cloak fell and Emma watched as her companions gasped, faces in shock. Rumpelstiltskin let out one, ragged breath, "No," before the swirl of grey smoke enveloped her and the mysterious Dark One, transporting them instantly into the castle. Only then, did he release her, and she stumbled forward, turned.

Her eyes widened imperceptibly, breath caught in her throat.

The man that stood before her, was Neal. 

* * *

"How could you allow this to occur! You may no longer look like a crocodile but you most certainly haven't had a change of demeanor " Killian walked briskly after Rumpelstiltskin, who was making his way up to the council chamber. Rumpel whirled around, and Killian stopped so suddenly that the rest of the scouting party, who was bringing up the rear, halted, bumping into one another.

"I saved her. I saved all of you. I know how to make a deal, Pirate, and I know now that what occurred is probably the best possible option of any. In case you hadn't noticed, my son, my Bae, is not the Dark One. I can only guess at how, but that doesn't really matter. He didn't remember us, don't you see?" he asked, tone insistent. "Yet he was still drawn to Emma. He wanted her, Hook. Her," The two men glared at one another before Belle came and stood between them.

"Killian," she began, tone calm as if speaking to a wounded animal. "The Swan Necklace that Emma wears, it survived it's trip here, with Neal, during our missing year, and then survived the trip back to Storybrooke, and it's still here, now. Don't you understand? Emma can break his curse! It's true love. That's what they have. True love," her eyes pleaded with all around her, but no one responded. In that moment, Charming, Snow and Henry had arrived, followed by Regina. It took only a moment for the scene to sink in. Snow looked around, suddenly feeling very anxious.

"Where...where's Emma?"

* * *

"No need to gape at me, Princess," Neal said, but Emma could not help the expression that graced her face. Her Neal, alive, but distorted, veins of black poison crisscrossing his skin. She never knew what Rumpelstiltskin had looked like when he was the Dark One, but, she imagined, it varied from person to person. Even Neal’s' eyes had thin veins of black running through them. His handsome, genial face had been transformed into her worst nightmare and, she knew, his worst nightmare as well. Emma's stomach sank when it hit her. He didn't remember a thing. Not a single thing at all. If she had been in a joking mood, she might have had the perverseness to mention that with all the memory losses that had happened in her family it was starting become a bit overused as far as plot devices went and the story a little repetitive. Despite all of her hang ups that didn't stop it from being horribly tragic.

Emma felt truly, for the first time, that she was living in a fairy tale.

Neal circled her slowly, watching her with insidious intent. When he once again faced her, his eyes lit upon the glint at her neck.

"A swan pendant. From your lover perhaps?" He reached out a hand, fingering at the pendant, before clasping his hands around the chain, and, before she could do a thing, he had tightened his grip and ripped the necklace from where it had hung for so long.

"No!" She called out in futility, but he only held it away from her, scrutinizing the circular metal.

"So precious to you? Then it must be from your lover," His crazed eyes glinted mischievously. "Yes, I think I've got just the thing for you, my beautiful new prize. Come," He implored her, and she followed, mind spinning in circles to come up with a plan to escape and to break him free from the Dark One's Curse.

He led her outside, to a garden, full of flowers and vines and moonlight overlooking a stunning lake. "My land is beautiful, is it not?  But it is missing something vital. A lone Swan would make a lovely addition, don't you think?" He reached out a hand and brushed a lock of her hair away from her neck and she shuddered at the direct contact with his skin. How long she had denied that she still loved him, how long she had waited to feel the gentle brush of his touch against her skin. And he was cursed. She felt dead inside knowing that he no longer remembered who they were to each other, that his touch didn't mean the same thing to him as it did to her. She pulled away from him.

"What do you mean, lone swan?"

"Swan's mate for life, did you know? What more cruel a fate to turn you into a swan, forevermore here to reside, alone, without the dear one who gave you your necklace?" With a wave of his hand she could feel herself changing, becoming something different.

"What, what are you doing to me?" The Dark One chuckled at her, darkly.

"All day you shall remain a swan, and in the evenings, when the first of the moonlight hits your wings as you float upon the lake, you will regain your human form. If you are not back upon the lake by the first rays of dawn, you will transform into a swan, forever. Maybe your lover will find you, and maybe it'll be true love. Even so, he will have to make it past me first.

 _But you are my true love!_ Emma wanted to yell at the top of her lungs, but before she could speak again, she had been transformed and the only sound that came was the trumpeting of a Swan.

* * *

"What you must understand is this," Rumpelstiltskin began. "Emma is with Bae. She's a smart woman, and he agreed to the deal. She will not be harmed, and she will love in comfort. Emma is a smart woman. She'll find a way to bring His memories back. She will find a way to return him back to the man we know him to be," He knelt before Henry, who had been pale and uncertain since the news of his mother's abduction had been made known. "And then she'll come home to you and she'll bring your father and we will finally get the happily ever after that we deserve. Isn't that right, Grandson mine?"

Henry nodded, solemnly.

"Come now, Henry. You are the truest believer. You must have faith in the strength of the love between your parents. Do you believe they have true love?" Henry took a moment, before nodding hesitantly.

"I believe in my parents. I believe in Mom, and I believe in Dad. I do. I do,"

"Good," Rumpel ruffled the hair on his grandson's head. "Then they will return to you. Now off to bed. Your Grandmother will see to you," Henry turned and ran into Snow's arms, and she turned to take him up the stairs to his room.  Charming caught Rumpel with a serious look.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. More than I've ever been sure of anything, I believe in the strength of their love for one another. I have to. If I do not, my son may be under my curse for the remainder of his life. I cannot condemn him to the life that I once led. Bae is very powerful now that he is the Dark One. Even more powerful than I was, I'd be willing to wager. I'm his father, and I can do nothing to save him but give Emma the chance to break through to him," Charming nodded contemplatively at the explanation the former Imp had given.

"You're right. I only wish I had your confidence," Rumpel laughed humourlessly.

"I wish I had my confidence too,"

* * *

Hook paced the courtyard with growing anxiety. He couldn't help be but afraid for the woman that he'd so grown to admire and possibly... he refused to think the word. What a betrayal to his darling Milah would that be, if he were to ever...And yet he already had. Hook had surrendered his lust to the Swam woman. She was intriguing and beautiful and utterly immovable. He'd never met a woman beside Milah was so inexplicably capable of taking charge of the world around her. 

And then there was the issue of Bae. His young Baelfire...

Killian made his decision.

Whether it was sanctioned or not, he would make it his mission to find and bring Emma back.

 

 


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder - this story is complete. I am just taking my time uploading chapters. It is NOT a wip.

The moon rose high above the lake upon which Emma had spent her first day, swimming languidly. Being a swan was a very freeing experience, considering her current state of confinement. She could fly, dip and soar upon the breeze and it was exhilarating to experience. 

The moonlight filtered down and touched her wings and the water, and once more the strange sensation of being modeled and molded fell over her and she loosed her feathers and they cascaded, collecting around the edges of her gently floating skirt.

Before her, on the shore, stood Neal.

"Emma!" He called to her, and she grasped up her skirts in hand, struggling with the burden of fabric to rush her way through the water and over to him. He remembered her! She threw her arms around his neck only for them to go through his flesh instantly, dissolving into the silvery magic smoke that she had grown to closely associate with the new Dark One.

"What? No!"

"Tsk Tsk Tsk, Princess," His face twisted and before her stood Zelena. "Look at you, pining for your peasant prince. The son of the Dark One. Oh, what a catch. I had to take his body, you know, I just had to. A sacrifice made in the name of true love is a very, very powerful ingredient, didn't you know?" Emma backed away as the Wicked Witch advanced upon her.

"This, this isn't right. This can't be you're not, you're not really here. We defeated you. I defeated you!"

Zelena's twisted smile turned into a frown and then, in a blink, Tamara stood where she had been only moments before. Emma's breath caught.

"No, that's not possible, this isn't possible! What's happening!" Tamara shrugged with ease and Emma's exclamation.

"Everything was just a dream, Emma. He's dead. I shot him. And you know what? I never, once cared about him. What a sad, pathetic man, to pine after a woman he knew as a teenager for ten years. He would have moved on if he knew what was good for him. He was so easy to use. Much easier than August. And much easier to kill too.  Kiss kiss bang bang, just like that," Tamara looked down and Emma mirrored her gaze. There, on the ground she saw Neal, his chest covered in red, bleeding out and pale. He took a shuddering breath.

"Emma, Emma why? Why would you let this happen to me? To us? Everything you touch breaks, Emma. Everything. Including our son" Emma shook her head.

"No, Neal, no, oh god, no I'd never...I love Henry!"

"Do you really, Emma? Do you?" Her foster mother stood where Neal had lain. "You really think that you are worth another second of my time? I have given you everything you could need. A roof over your head, schooling, and you repay us like this? By getting pregnant?" She shouted at Emma. Tears streaked her face.

"But...but this can't be right, because I don't even know Neal yet, what are you talking about? What are you talking about!" Her foster mother's crowed in at her face, and Tamara was there beside her and so were Neal, and Zelena and Snow and Charming.

"You'll never make a good Queen,"

"Sad excuse for a princess,"

"You couldn't save him,"

"Pregnant! A mother!"

"I beat you! I took everything from you! I won I won I won I-"

Emma woke, a frantic trumpet turned into a scream and she stood, water pooling at her feet in the moonlight. The scene was eerily reminiscent of what she had seen only moments before.

She looked up.

Neal was standing on the shore, watching her.

"What did you do to me?" She spat accusingly. The black veins on his face made her want to throw up.

"Oh, Princess, didn't you know? Certain curses have side effects. I must say, whatever this one is, it must be perfectly horrific. I do so wonder what failures it made you dream. Very realistic, isn't it? If I were you, I would begin to hope for your true love to come, before the dreams drive you mad,"

"Why are you doing this? Why?" He made no move to explain himself and she hoisted her damp skirts and strode to the shore where he stood. "There has to be a reason. Even you father never did anything without a reason, from what I understand, even if it wasn't a good one," That resulted in a response, though it wasn't what Emma had expected.

"My father? What could you possibly know about a man that I've never met?" Emma's brow furrowed in confusion.

"But you...the way you spoke to him! You knew that he'd been the Dark One. You were wearing the cloak; you didn't want anyone to know it was you. You even mentioned yourself! How couldn't you know that-"

"Rumpelstiltskin? My father? Ha!" he turned a circle in cruel mirth. "You may be a princess, but you are a very, very silly one,"

"My name is Emma," She stated, a plan forming. "And, you, oh Dark One, or whatever, what's your name?" An eyebrow cocked in intrigue at her sarcastic comment. 

"My name is Baelfire, Princess Emma. I am not found of it, but all the same, don't wear it out," Emma smiled. Some bits of Neal had to remain in the amnesiatic shell that was his body, she only had to draw them out. But fear still gnawed at her stomach. If she did bring them out, would her kiss be

enough to break his curse?

* * *

Any day, any at all, Killian would have preferred to swim a league instead of ride. As he saddled his horse, his heart was filled with longing for his ship, the Jolly Roger. Even so, it wouldn't be of assistance to him on his current journey. He'd requested the horse from Charming earlier that day, under the pretense of riding for his ship's location, where he would then resume his nefarious piracy. In his mind, he envisioned Emma, sunshine hair framing her face, eyes wide, determined. Her face swam before him and changed.

Bae. Bae was the one into whose eyes he was looking. Bae's warm, trusting, smiling eyes, looking at him as a son would a father. He could recall when those eyes had looked at him with disgust and betrayal too, but with difficulty he willed the images away.

Conflict was rising within Killian.

He saddled the horse, and swung a leg up.

* * *

"Come, you must be hungry," That day had been a long one for her and the horrible nightmares had gotten worse with each passing day. He spoke more quietly than Rumpelstiltskin had. More subdued. So much was different about him, and yet, so much was the same. His anger was often expressed loudly and emotionally, but on every other front he was calm, and rational. The difference the curse had made in him was one far more substantial.

Neal had always been so selfless, Emma knew now, from the tales she'd heard from the Darlings, and she'd seen it with her own eyes how selfless and loving his every decision had been. Even if some had been the wrong decisions, he had always believed in his heart that he was doing the right thing. 

So she watched this Neal, the distortion of Baelfire created from the memories of years of Dark Ones and the name on a dagger to find the differences. The kindest bits of Rumpel had been twisted, from what she understood. He had loved his son desperately. The curse amplified that desire and turned it on him, making him possessive and cruel to others.

She followed him into the castle, choosing her words with care. A feast was set at the long dining table, and two places were set, one at the head and the other on the immediate right. Neal stopped behind the latter, pulling it outwards.

"Sit," It was a simple command, the same that he had given her every night for the past week, and like every night for the past week, she complied willingly. The task she had undertaken would be easier if he liked her to begin with, Emma had reasoned, and no matter how infuriating he became, she had to remember that it wasn't really him. That she was doing this for him. To save him. She wondered what her mother would say. What Belle would say.

_Be yourself._

_He must love you for you._

"You're quite the gentleman, but I think I can manage a chair for myself you know," He raised his eyebrow at her again. It was quickly becoming his patented response to her whenever she said something that threw him off.

"A gentleman I ever strive to be. Let it not be said that the Dark One doesn't know how to treat a lady,"

"And what if I'm not a lady?"

"Then your lover will be sorely disappointed,"

"You know," she began, mentally crossing her fingers as she watched him pour their wine, "You keep mentioning this lover. I've never said anything about a lover," He paused, lifting the lip of the decanter ever so slightly enough to stop the liquid's flow. His eyes flickered up to look at her from under dark lids.

"Your eyes said enough when I took your charm," He looked away from her and tilted the decanter once more, pouring the cup half full.

"Would you give it back to me, please? You, um, you weren't wrong. My lover gave it to me, but..." She let out her breath, eyes flickered closed. "He...he died," Neal replaced the stopper of the decanter and set it on the table with a muted clunk.

"Dead?"

"Yes," It wasn't difficult to let the emotion filter into her admission. So much pent up inside after they had buried him, after she had held his body in her arms, cradled his head to her chest. She blinked back tears at the memory of his words to her. To find Tallahassee with someone, even if it couldn't be him.

Selfless.

"Well, that changes things then, doesn't it? But, just because your lover is dead, doesn't mean that there isn't another true love out there for you. The Evil Queen herself will find love again. I've seen it," The offhand comment rubbed her wrongly.

"What do you mean? Isn't true love supposed to be 'one' true love?"

"There are many forms of true love, you know. Parent and child often have it, though they never know. And yes, one can have other true loves, though it isn't common," She pondered his words in silence and took a bit out of her roll, chewing contemplatively.

"You never answered my question, on the first night I was here. I know that you're under no obligation to and, all things considered, you haven't treated me poorly," He watched her close, eyes darkening. "So, why take me? My parents are the King and Queen of a realm and there are a lot of people who care about me, probably on their way here right now, despite the fact that I agreed to this arrangement. My being here can only cause you trouble. So why, of all people, take me?"

"Oh, no reason. I chose at random,"

"You're lying," The words had flown from her mouth before she even realized that she was saying them.

"Am I?" his tone was reaching a dangerous low.

"Yes. I...I have one ability, besides, you know, princessy stuff," she struggled for words. "And that is that I can always, always, tell when someone is lying to me. Either tell me or don't tell me, but don't lie. Please. I'm more than likely going to be here for the rest of my life, so you might as well share with the class,"

"You..." he stood abruptly, goblet in hand, though he did not raise it to his lips to drink. "You are familiar to me, somehow. You remind me of a woman, from my past,"

"So you took me to replace her?"

He did not deign her with a response. The goblet touched his lips and he drank, rested the cup back on the table and then strode towards the doorway.

"Eat. And be sure you return to the lake before sunrise. I'd hate to have you stuck as a swan for the rest of your life. You're far too lovely a trophy for such a fate," And with those words, he had left the room. Emma wasn't sure whether or not the first step of her plan had been a success. Only time would tell. But at least she could now be positive what had been changed in him.

Neal had become selfish.

 


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder: Completed Work: Not WIP

 He didn’t sleep much. It seemed natural to add the word ‘anymore’ to the end of that sentence, but seeing as he really didn't remember anything about his life prior to waking in that glade he didn’t really know what his sleeping habits had been like prior to that day. It was certainly a strange feeling, not to know who he was. He had other memories, hazy bits and pieces from the previous Dark Ones, but they weren't concrete images, just ideas and emotions and  _knowledge_. So much knowledge. He knew every deal that the Dark One had ever made, every spell perfected, yet he did not know who he had been.  It was for this very reason that the feelings which Emma Swan stirred in him were so disconcerting. Why had he taken her, she wanted to know. The only answer he could give was not one he could speak aloud.

_Because you are the only thing which seems familiar._

_Because you clear my head._

_Because you make me feel light, unburdened._

_Because I hear you laugh in my dreams._

He could no longer afford to eat her meals with her if she was going to frazzle him to the point of utter distraction. She was his willing captive, not the other way around. He was not bound to answer her questions, so why did he feel so inclined to?

Not knowing frightened him, and fear wasn’t an emotion he had experience on a regular basis.

The idea the he might actually find out frightened him more.

He ran his hands down his face, and looked out the window of his tower. Upon the lake, he could see Princess Emma in her swan form, swimming about lackadaisically. She was so unusual and so intelligent. Witty and beautiful and his.

All his.

Her lover was dead, she’d admitted to him herself. Perhaps, if he gave it enough time, perhaps it could be he who broke her curse.

Perhaps.

But all in good time.

* * *

 Unlike last time, when Killian rode up to the edge of the Dark One’s lands, he paused before crossing in. It would be impossible to get in without alerting Bae to his presence, so he stowed his horse in a glade not too far from the path and waited. Shortly, a wagon rolled up along the road. As it passed, he hastened from the bushes and slipped up and into the back of the cart.

Killian held his breath in anticipation, waiting for the worst.

Bae never appeared. A ways down the road to the first village, he hopped off of the wagon and resumed walking, deep in thought.

What would he do when he got there? Bae might be holding Emma captive, but he was still…Bae. Milah’s son. The boy with the sad eyes and bright spirit. The boy he’d once hoped to think of as his own. Neal. The man with a murky past and an open heart. The man who was his only competition in the race for Emma Swan’s heart.

His anger at Rumpelstiltskin bled through the edges of his gilded image of Bae in his boyhood and as he trudged along the path his hand curled into a fist. Killian hadn’t just loved Milah, he had worshiped her. A woman strong enough in their world to be her own person. To break the confines of her marriage prison to pursue the life she had always wanted. She had learned the sword well enough to match even his skills. She had guile and beauty and never let anyone tell her what to do.

_You tore apart my family, as sure as if you ripped her heart out yourself._

"Get out of my head!" He muttered angrily as the memories began to catch up with him.  Bae was not himself, and might never be again, he reasoned. He loved Emma, truly loved her the way that he’d loved Milah.

Hook wasn’t going to let his second chance go.

* * *

The table had been cleared of food and they sat comfortable with a deck of cards between them.

_I’m bored. Please tell me you know some card games._

He’d indulged her and there she sat, still in her same silvery white gown, looking lovely as ever, brightly winking eyes peaking above the cards fanned in her hand as she tried to determine which card would be the least beneficial to him.

She laid down a spaded seven. Useless. She was quite good. He huffed and she let out a quiet laugh.

"You think I’m funny?"

"No, but you always ma- never mind," He had noticed her strange tendency to begin a sentence and then end it without finishing, and often in the middle of a word besides. She’d done the same thing several times already in the past hour and even in the nights prior.

 _Curiouser and Curiouser_. He thought to himself. The phrase seemed familiar, but he couldn’t recall… he shook his head briefly, refocusing himself on his own hand of cards.

"Something rather peculiar occurred earlier today, Princess Emma," He discarded his third diamond in a row and she bit her lip.

"Oh really?" She asked, looking up from the table. She spoke to him with such comfortable ease, he had noted. Perhaps it would be easier to woo her than he had thought.

"Yes, really. A new presence crossed my boarders this morning riding in one of my merchant’s wagons. I almost didn’t notice it. A clever ruse, don’t you think?” She her glance only flickered up and him momentarily before returning to study her hand.

"Yeah. Sure. But you still caught it," Her dismissive tone miffed him.

"Suppose it is one of those people whom you so firmly stated was probably already searching for you?"

"If it is, I can’t leave. You’ve made that impossible," This time when she looked up at him, she did not break their matched gaze. Instead, she folded her hand openly onto the table and let one card into the run. "I’m out. It’s your deal,"

"I’m tired of Gin," He leaned conspiratorially across the table, shuffling the cards between nimble fingers, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in a smile "Teach me a new game," Emma shrugged.

"Alright," he slid the deck across to her and she began to deal them out, he watched her, fondly, and then returned to his story.

"Who do you think that this person might be, Princess?" She paused only briefly and then continued dealing out the deck, till the very last card. Neither said a word.

"This game is called War. It’s the most ridiculously simple game in the world to learn but it’s hard to win. If you insist on actually having a conversation, then I figured that this would work best. The rules are easy. From my half of the deck, I choose the top card and throw it down at the same time you do. Highest card wins, and aces are high. If we both have the same card, we each put one card face down and then pick another card and put it face up. Whoever wins that one gets the whole pile. You go until one person has the whole deck,"

"Simple enough," he conceded easily.

"But I want a twist. For every round you win, you get to ask a question. For every round I win, I get to ask a question.  You’ve got to tell the truth. And I already told you, I’ve got this thing about lying. I always know. So don’t try anything with me, okay?" He frowned at her, blinked lazily.

"Very well, but first you must answer the question which I already posed to you. After that, we may start your game,"

"I have a bad feeling that it’s either someone I care about too much, or someone who care about me too much. And believe me, those aren’t all cross conditional,"They laid their cards and Emma simmered as he swept them over to his side, forming a neat pile.

"I win. Answer me this. Is there another who loves you?" Emma tossed another card to the table.

"Yes. Yes there is someone who claims to love me. I’m not sure if it’s love or lust or some sort of weird complex that he’s got about steeling significant others from the men in Rumpelstiltskin’s family or something, but yeah, there’s a good chance that he loved me, or at least thinks he does," Bae threw his card down.

"I win again. Do you love him?"

"I…I don’t know. I could, maybe, with time," Cards down, Bae scowled. Emma grinned.

"My turn. You told Rumpelstiltskin that you didn’t know how you came to be the Dark One. What did you mean?"

"I awoke in a glade. The dagger was lying not far from me, and it’s power was already creeping through me," Emma won again.

"And before that? What do you remember?" Baelfire lifted a finger at her and tsked.

"Ah, ah, now, that was two questions," Emma rolled her eyes at him.

"Semantics. Just answer," His face twitched in amusement.

"Demanding, aren’t we? Are you a spoilt Princess? Perhaps I treat you too well?"

"You agreed to play the game. Play by the rules and answer my question," There was a beat of heavy silence, and Emma wanted to cringe from the way his eyes bored into her skull. Moments before he had been so close to the Neal that she had known, playfully making puppy eyes when she beat him at his own game.

The man before her was not that same man.

"Do not test me, Princess. You would not like what would happen if you did," The deck of cards disappeared with a puff of grey magic. "Nothing. I remember nothing of my own before that. Only the memories given me by the dagger. Now. It’s early. Go to the lake, unless you don’t desire to have dinner at this table again,"

It was a dismissal. She’d pushed her luck and lost a good opportunity to press him with more questions, but she’d gained valuable information all the same. As she walked down the path to the water, Emma couldn’t help but dwell on the mysterious person that had secreted themselves across the border, and dread who it might turn out to be.


	6. Chapter 5

The next night he did not conjure cards for her. They sat in relative silence as she ate. He had not conjured a place for himself, and she  thought it odd, but had once heard Belle mention that Rumpel had often eaten only out of pure enjoyment and not because he required sustenance as the Dark One. She chewed her beef carefully as he sat and watched her, self-conscious of her every move. Every sound was amplified in the stillness. It surrounded her completely and Emma wondered if this was how and insect under a microscope felt.

"You’re making me uncomfortable," She mumbled.

"I-," It was the first time she had seen him flustered, much less speechless. Neal pushed his chair back, stood and retreated from the table.

"What do you do during the day?" Emma asked in effort to push their conversation forward again. Perhaps she had pushed too hard.

"Oh you know, just my job,"

"Which involves…?"

"Deals, making them, collecting on them, reprimanding those who break them. Spying," He had still not turned to face her.

"Spying? On who?" She could hardly keep the accusatory note out of her tone, and he strode swiftly to the other end of the drawing room, to the cabinets where Rumpel had stored his prizes.

"A man with only one good hand. He had dark hair and a contemptible idea of what it means to be charming. Your Father still holds that title, I assure you.  Prior Dark Ones had sour memories of the man. He’s called Hook, I hear," Emma held her breath, and her heart was racing. "He is the one who snuck over the border into my lands yesterday. He was there when your scouting party arrived and we made our deal. If I remember correctly, he objected quite strongly, didn’t he?" Emma fought the urge to fidget.

"Yes. Yes, that’s him. Perfect description, actually," Emma paused to take a drink from her goblet, and was about to continue when he spoke again.

"This Hook…is he the one you believe loves you?" Neal’s head ducked to the side, and for all of his dissimilarities to his normal, uncursed self, some things never changed. Emma knew that motion, and knew it with such an intimate familiarity that it made her ache inside to touch his feather soft salt and pepper hair, caress his stubbled cheek.

She longed for him with such a sudden intensity that she stalled her own voice.

He must have sensed that something was off because he turned to look at her, his fine cloak swishing against the ground.

"Answer me," His tone was dangerous and only then did she realize how her silence had been interpreted.

"He’s the one I spoke of, yes," She stood from her seat and walked over to him until she stood directly before him. "I’m not lying to you," His gaze softened.

"I believe you,"

* * *

_"Emma, I…"_

_"What is it Killian?"_

_"She can’t be aware that I’ve given you the knowledge. Zelena tricked me. My kiss is poison to you. I swore on you, Emma. You and my love for you,"_

_"Your ‘love for me’?"_

_"Yes, Emma, I…I’ve come to care about you in a way that I’ve only known once before and-"_

_"Killian, please stop. I can’t do this right now. Just tell me what she did to your… your kiss," Killian looked at her crestfallen, but pushed on._

_"If I kiss you, your powers will be gone. All your magic,"_

_"I just…what made her think that I would kiss you?" Her words stung._

_"Perhaps In the world she comes from, I’m not sure she believes that it much matters if the woman wishes to be kissed or not. I can’t claim to know her mind, as I’ve never been there, nor do I know her,"_

_"Well you might have yearning looks, Killian, but I don’t. You…you’ve been good to Henry. With everything and, and Ne-al," Emma’s voice cracked. "You’ve helped Henry get to know his Dad and that’s more than I should have asked of you. I’m sorry," She avoided saying Neal’s name, the raw pain still eating away at her heart from the inside out._

_As he had lay dying in her arms, she wanted to take back her Neverland secret. She wanted to throw it out completely. Because deep, she knew, her secret had changed._

_"It is no matter. I…I guess I shant be a threat to you then, lest the curse me in some other manner to carry out the deed. You…obviously don’t desire my intentions at the moment, and I shall respectfully keep my distance from you," Killian nodded curtly and made to turn away._

_"Wait! I…look, you don’t need to keep your distance okay, you don’t," she racked her brain for the right word. "Repulse me or make me uncomfortable. I’m just…He’s dead okay? And I’ve never loved anyone the way I love him, okay? It’ll take…time,"_

* * *

"When do you expect him to get to the castle?" Emma asked curiously, an hour later. They were sitting in chairs by a roaring fire that Neal had conjured, each with a book in hand, sitting quietly. It was more difficult than Emma had ever imagined that it would be to get Neal to open up to her.

"Must we talk about the distasteful man dressed in leather?" He did not look up from the book, acting passive, but she knew he was anything but.

"You really have got to lose that ridiculous declination. You sound like a wanna-be Yoda. Can’t you just talk like a normal person?"

“‘Normal person’?” His eyes peaked up a corner and internally, Emma cheered.

"Yeah. Like ‘Hey Emma, can we not talk about Hook right now? I think he’s kind of a pretentious dick’ ?" When Emma caught his look of scandalized shock, she couldn’t help letting out a laugh.

"Such language and from a princess?"

"How about you say that like a normal person, and I might ‘deign to respond’ how about that?" The skin around her eyes crinkled with her smile. His did not. Neal cleared his throat.

"I cannot believe you said something like that, you are a princess,"

"Better, but not perfect," Her smile fell. "And I was just curious," Because at this rate I’m going to have to step up my game by like, five moves. Suddenly, Neal stood, his black veined hands closing the book he’d held and caressed the cover as he placed it on the table next to his chair.

"There’s something I want to show you…before you go back to the lake," He held out his arm, crooked, and she took it, for old time’s sake. She felt both close to him and so far from him. His warmth was gone, and his joviality replaced with a cool, calculating demeanour, the cracks in which were beginning to widen with every word she spoke. Remembering happier times, she leant in closer to him, pretending, and hoping it would help restore his mind.

They walked down the hall and circled up a tall staircase until they came to a double door, which was closed. As they neared it, the doors swung open inwards, and they passed through the doorway as if it was still part of the hall.  The sight that met her eyes was astonishing.

"This…they view is amazing from here!" Emma dropped his arm and rushed to the balcony, the doors of which were open and the curtains blowing lazily in the wind. From her vantage point, Emma could see everything. Her lake, the town, the forest beyond the Dark One’s boarders and… "Is that?"

"Your parents castle. Yes. And anytime you wish to gaze upon them in the night you only need come into this room to see them," At his words, Emma realized that thing which she had missed. It was as bright as daytime in the room. She stifled a screech beneath her hand. Neal had come up to her suddenly and grasped her upper arms.

"Emma, you’re fine. I promise. In this room it is always daylight. I enchanted it that way," She broke from his grasp.

"I feel like a house cat, looking out the window but never being able to go where I see," She felt Neal take a step backwards behind her and she turned from the window, suddenly, redoubling her efforts, and ran forward to encircle him in her arms.

"Thank you for your gift, Baelfire,"

Timidly, he hugged her back.

* * *

 He would arrive in the night. Baelfire had listened in on Hook for as long as he could. It wasn’t ideal in the least. He wanted Emma. He wanted her to like him as well, but he didn’t think she would take kindly to his preparations against Hook. His plans for the man were not pleasant.

That morning, before the sun had come up and Emma had transformed back into a swan once more, while they had sat together in her new observatory, as the princess had christened it, Emma had lent her head on his shoulder, simply watching the world from the window. He thought she was almost content and in those moments, he had felt so sure of himself, and so ashamed. Dirty. Impure.

After they had parted, he had felt the black veins creeping further, deeper, stronger into his skin, into his very being, and redoubled their efforts to hold him. It was the first moment since he had awoken that Baelfire had been afraid that for all the freedom he had, he might have become unknowingly imprisoned.

Time meant very little to Baelfire and so his preparations sped the day along and soon the night would fall. He checked to be sure he would be so lucky, one more time. There was no moon that night. He sat in his chair. A sword lay unsheathed over his lap.The clock ticked loudly in the utter stillness. A knife glinted in the dark, and cold steel was pressed against the skin of Baelfire’s neck.

"Hello, Baelfire. You have something which doesn’t belong to you,"

"Hook. Welcome to the Dark Castle. I understand that you are searching for a lady whom you love. You will not find her here," Baelfire stood, clasping the sword in hand, and turned to face Hook, whose face was a mask of emotions.

"Whatever do you mean? You made a deal for her, did you not?"

"I did. But she is not here,"

"Where, then, might I find Miss. Swan?" He asked with a mocking bow.

"You’ll not find her, even if I tell you where to look," Baelfire lifted the sword so that the flat edge of the very tip rested against Hook’s cheek. "You are blind, tonight, as blind as a beggar on any day. I assure you of that," Hook pushed Bae’s sword aside in frustration.

"Explain yourself!" He made to lung, but Bae’s sword blocked his path. Baelfire raised a brow.

"You see, pirate, there’s something missing this evening. Have you noticed how dark it has become? Have you noticed why?" Hook only looked at him quizzically. Baelfire rushed Hook suddenly, and Killian’s hooked hand came up to defend against the gleaming blade. The clash was spectacularly loud and even though they had stopped moving, the noise still reverberated in the large room. Baelfire stood face to face with Hook. He leaned in, just a little, to whisper in his ear and spoke the damning words.

"Because there is no moon tonight,"

* * *

"Because there is no moon tonight," As soon as the words were spoken, Bae had moved back three steps, held his sword out to the side, arms spread, waiting for Killian to make his move. It was an obvious ploy, but there was a dangerously playful glint in Bae’s eyes that reminded the pirate so much of Bae’s father. It was that look he’d grown to hate, to despise. It said more than anything else by way of Bae’s confidence.

"Oh you ass," He spat, throwing his dagger aside and drawing his own sword. "I know you Bae. Enough with the pretense. You’re jealous. Jealous of me. Because I have gained at the very least _some_  manner of affection from Emma. You may not be yourself right now, but you are still Baelfire and I have no true wish to fight you. Give Emma up. Let her come back to her home, to her family. Holding her here is no way for you to regain her favour!”

Baelfire lunged. It was all Killian could do to block the severe blow. There was a hard glint in the sorcerer’s eye and in a puff of grey magic, he was gone. Killian swirled on the spot, waiting.

"I never took you for a coward, Baelfire! I never thought you would stoop to your father’s level, but, I guess magic changes a man," Baelfire had still not appeared, and Killian was growing anxious with waiting.

"I am no coward," The words were hissed into his ear from behind and Killian turned, swinging his sword arm powerfully in an arc. It had become more than apparent that Baelfire would not be reasoned with. "The deal I made was with the Princess, Pirate, and only one man may free her from that deal. Me,"

Killian felt the telltale tingle of magic, even as they danced the dance of ages, warrior tendencies guiding the elegant yet vicious pirouettes and lunges. It was strange to regain his footing on dirt ground by a black lake, but Baelfire was ready the moment they had fully materialized outdoors, redoubling his efforts. However, Killian had noticed, even his efforts were effortless. Magic aided his precognition of every move that Killian made and he found himself woefully outdone. Throwing every ounce of his love and strength and trickery into his swordsmanship, Killian spun the sword out of Bae’s hand, and notched the tip of his blade under his opponent’s neck, drawing a single drop of blood (black, his blood was black) before Bae had jumped back and-

"What…" there was astonishment in the words as a blue film of magic crept over Bae in paralyzing sparks, lighting the scene. “Squid Ink,"

Killian looked around, ignoring Baelfire. They stood of the shore of the lake which the Dark Castle overlooked. It was a glassy black mirror, save for a single spot of white which was becoming alarmingly close and loud the longer that Killian looked at it. Gracefully, from the rippling water, a swan rose in flight, beating its wings ferociously. It landed back in the water, right at the edge of the shore, and Killian turned back to Bae, ignoring it.

"You will tell me what you have done with my beloved Emma, Baelfire. You will tell me what you have done with her," He let his Hook press into the other man’s cheek and saw Bae tense at the pressure, teeth drawing together in a growl of anger.

"She can only be freed by one,"

"Yes, I know, you said that earlier. Only you can wrest her deal from her,"

"Not me. One man. Her true love, whom she has so kindly explained to me, is dead," Killian could not keep the quizzical look from his face. Baelfire was acting almost as if he had no memories.

"Bae, I don’t understand you. I find myself disconcerted by your words-"

"You continue to speak to me as if you know me. How interesting, as we have only ever met the once, briefly, when I made my contract with the Princess,"

Killian made to press his hook more firmly into Bae’s cheek, but the bleating trumpet of the swan broke his concentration. Turning to give it his attention once more, Killian finally understood what had been so peculiar about the creature.

"Emma…" he breathed, turning ferociously back to Baelfire.  "There is hardly such a thing as a lone swan. You’ve turned her into a swan!"

"Apropos isn’t it?"

"How dare you! How dare you subject her to your vile magic!" Again the swan trumpeted, and this time, her wings lifted her into the air and she swooped, batting Killian hard in the head. He yelped, raising an arm to protect himself. "Emma, Emma, it’s me, Killian! I’m trying to protect you,"

"What were her words? Yes, ‘pretentious dick’. I believe those words graced her lips. She does. not. want. you,"

Each word was emphasized in his deep tones, mockingly. It had become obvious to Killian that something was desperately wrong with Baelfire. The curse had not only slayed his good heartedness, it must have also distorted his memories. Killian sighed heavily and dropped his sword.

"I am glad you are smart enough to know that she shall surely never return to herself if you were to kill me. You are a tad wiser than I had initially believed. Your trick, hiding in the back of the wagon. It did not work. I was aware of you from the moment you entered. I watched you, you know. Watched you plan. What you do not anticipate is that you have been outsmarted," Killian’s brow furrowed in confusion and he made to move from the spot but he found himself rooted to the sand and before him, the magic was slowly flaking off of Bae’s form.

He began to move once more, the paralysis weakening and he motioned with his hand towards the ground.

"You’re stuck were you stand, Pirate. All day long. And then you’ll see what a difference to moon makes,"

Killian struggled, his feet mired in a rune which rendered him immobile. He sent a deep glare towards Baelfire.

"I’m afraid I’ve got business elsewhere, so I’ll come collect you later,"

And with that, Baelfire left Killian to brew.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY. I'm currently without my laptop because my charger is broken and the battery is dead right now. Updates will be sporadic.

They knew that something, knew things about him that he didn’t even know, or at least, they thought they did. Perhaps a bit more spying would assist in his efforts to discover whatever it was he was missing in his life story. Whatever history it might be that he didn’t recall. Disguised and transported, he pretended to browse the marketplace as the gossip filtered through his hearing, catches and snatches of conversation.

 

            _“Princess Emma’s been taken. They’re sure of it now,”_

_“A Pirate went in search of her, I heard, without the King’s permission!”_

_“I hear she’s newly widowed and in grieving! Her husband sacrificed his life to save all of us, I heard!”_

_“I heard that it was to save her and their son,”_

_“The poor young prince, fatherless and motherless now,”_

_“What’s his name?”_

_“The Crown Prince’s name is Henry,”_

_“When Princess Emma is rescued then there’ll be a crowning,”_

_“You mean if. I hear that she’s being held captive by the Dark One. No one ever escapes a deal with the Dark One. Anyway, then Prince Henry will be named Heir,”_

_“Poor lad’s only twelve I hear,”_

 

Nothing quite caught his ear the way he’d hoped. Any details to the feisty Emma were hidden within the confines of the castle, and all the rooms within which the members of the Royal Family resided were shielded with blood magic, making them impenetrable to Baelfire.

His trip had been essentially useless.

* * *

Even in her swan form, Emma spent all her time thinking about how she would convince Baelfire to fall in love with her again. To push aside the desire to make her his property and to properly care for her the way that always had before. What horrible things she’d once said to him. Wishing he was dead - and that had been the truth - because it would be easier. But every time, every single time, he kept coming back. Returning to her from other realms, coming back to her even from death. But the truth that she had neglected to admit was that even though they had been happy once, all she really wanted was to be happy again.

And she loved no one the way that she loved him. She had held his heart in her hands (and that analogy had lost a lot of its desirability over the past couple years) and she knew he had always given it her. She wanted to whisper her greatest secret, the one that she’d spoken in a clipped tone to her parents, to him without hesitation.

_I never stopped loving him._

And it was her secret because she had never told him, not in that same way, with such raw emotion spilling forth from her heart.

If she got out of this, if she freed him and he freed her, Emma vowed she would never be so afraid of selfish or scared again. She deserved her happy ending and for the first time in her life, Emma knew exactly what that happy ending meant to her.

Neal and Henry and her. No matter where or when, as long as they were a family the way that fate had predestined they should be.

* * *

"Hook never sent the horse back, Snow," Charming stated with annoyance. Shoe looked up from the baby, Rose, rocking in her cradle.

"He went after Emma, didn’t he?"

"Probably," Snow bit her lip at his admission. "If the Dark One is indeed Neal, and she kisses his curse away, they will have True Love. You don’t suppose he would jeopardize both of their futures, do you? Or Emma’s chance at true love? No matter how selfish he is? If he truly loves her as he claims, he would put her before his own happiness. Emma said…"

"What Snow?"

"She said that Neal’s last words were that she should find Tallahassee, even if it would be with him. He wanted her to be happy. That’s all he wanted. And Belle’s convinced that the only reason the keychain survived both trips is through the force of true love. It’s got to be! I was so worried that loosing Neal would hurt her permanently in ways worse than she’s been hurt before. You know how protective she gets, crawling into her shell. When she was around Neal… Oh Charming, I want to know what they looked like when they were in love. I want to see that, Charming. I want to see Emma happy with the love of her life. I know what it’s like to have True Love. So many others don’t. I don’t want her to lose that chance!"

"Oh darling, I don’t know. I don’t know," Charming held his wife, holding her tenderly as she cried. "But we have to have faith. Fate brought him back to her more than once and it’s given them a second chance again. We just have to have hope,"

"Hope,"

* * *

Killian was tired of standing all day. Anything would be better than what he’d endured, including being made to ride the stupid horse. He was tired and sore and had had an itch on the bottom of his foot, under his boot for the better part of three hours. It was a sudden darkening of the already pitch sky around him that alerted Killian to Bae’s presence. He felt his feet release, and collapsed to the ground.

"Tell me what you have done with Emma,"

"Everyone is aware of your quest to save the Princess, did you know? I discovered something quaint today. The lover she told me was dead? Her husband apparently! A Widow for a princess! And she’s a mother too, I hear, of a young lad, name of Henry. She has not mentioned either fact," Baelfire was looking not at Killian, but beyond him.

"Tell me what you have done with Emma!" Killian demanded once more, avoiding Baelfire's commentary.

"See for yourself," Baelfire’s voice was deep, and rough, eyes trained at a point beyond Killian. He turned his gaze to match Baelfire’s and Killian saw the first light of the moon begin to paint the waters. Like a mirror, the lake was still and unblemished, save for the point where the Swan sat, white and vibrant. And then, the moonlight reached the water and it shot up like a fountain, a bright light erupting from the centre and-

When the water receded, Emma stood in the shallows, dressed in silvery white finery, fair locks of hair held in an up-do. She made her way to the shore slowly, dress dragging.

"Baelfire, let him go. Yes, I agreed to call him a pretentious dick but that doesn’t mean you have to take him captive. He’s been…working on it. I guess. Sort of. Um, in as much as someone can ‘work on’ their personality," Emma tried to assuage him but Baelfire sneered at Hook.

"I highly doubt that you could ever break her curse, but I’m more than willing to let you try. It means that I get to watch you fail,"

"And if I do?"

"A deal is a deal," Without and further deliberation, Killian strode up to Emma and kissed her upon the lips. She yipped a bit and pulled back, but nothing had happened. Killian opened and closed his mouth several times, but words had failed him. Baelfire laughed cruelly.

"In love with a dead man, Princess? Not even living, willing flesh can tempt you from your dearly departed husband?" He snapped his fingers and Killian disappeared from sight. "What else had you not told me?"

"Stop it! Stop it!" Emma had run up to him, the look on her face was seething. "You have no right! I told you  _everything_  you asked. I answered all your questions truthfully!”

"A lie of omission is still a lie,  _my lady_ ,”

"If you had asked, I’d’ve told you!" Emma paused their shouting match, feeling scarily reminded of the only other time they’d fought, when he had showed her his wanted poster. She looked around. "What’ve you done with Hook? Send him back to my parent’s castle, or wherever. I really don’t care,"

"Oh, I don’t think they will miss him all that much. Perhaps he would better serve us and the rest of this fine world living out the rest of his days in my dungeon, where I’ve sent him," Emma rallied at his taunts, and punched him in the shoulder. He took the hit, completely surprised by her audacity.

"Fine, whatever, I don’t care. But if you’re trying to get me to fall in love with you, this is not how I would want you to go about it!"

"What?"

“I didn’t-“ The words wouldn’t come, and Neal didn’t look as though he wanted to hear them.

Instead he dragged her bodily into the castle from the lake shore after she’d let her mouth run away from her. The words had flown without consulting her, of that Emma was positive. She was also positive, of course, that they had been completely true. Emma knew Neal, and she knew that no matter who he thought he was, or what dark magic possessed him, he  _always_  and never failingly wore his heart on his sleeve. The ardour that he had for her was more obvious than he could have known. The jealously in his voice when he’d allowed, goaded even, Hook into trying to kiss her…

They had reached the dining hall. Neal’s grip on her arm loosed as he pushed her to sitting in a chair, waved a hand, letting a meal appear before her, and then disappeared before she could get a word in edgewise.

 


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been on a trip around Germany these past couple weeks. I'm still still in the country, actually, but I feel so bad considering that they story has been complete since I started posting, so I'm just going to post all the remaining chapters in one fell swoop. I truely apologize for any glaring errors. I have this story in so many places, I don't know which ones are edited and which ones aren't. I'm just moving it from the easiest source.  
> (I'm 20 pages into a full rewrite of season 3b, oops)

He paced in the tower. She knew. Somehow, she had guessed at what even he could not fathom in himself. His love for her. Bah, love! What did it even matter?

Because the Princess would never love him.

~

He had left her alone to eat, but Emma wasn’t interested in the food if he wasn’t there to share the meal with her. Emma had grown used to his presence beside her when as easily as if he’d never left her thirteen years ago. She had never thought that she would fall back in to that habit so easily.  
So Emma had gotten up and begun to wander, though not without purpose, in lieu of his tantrum induced absence, if that was what had indeed happened. Emma came to a darkened stairwell, which curved upwards. It was cased in dust and dirt from the many years of abandonment during the curse, but the castle had suddenly lit the candles lining the steps as soon as she looked. Emma took a breath as she stepped up the stone stairwell. A sudden crash caused her to jump.

"Damn it! Neal," she muttered under her breath, before hiking her skirts and rushing up the stairs, wishing she could kick off her shoes. Another crash sounded and she bunched up the tool of her skirts in her arms like a load of laundry.

"Baelfire!" Emma had hit the landing. "Baelfire, stop it!" A vase flew past her vision and shattered on the ground next to her and he was suddenly before her, his hands gripping her upper arms tightly. She locked her knees when he made to push her up against the wall. She brought her hands together under his and thrust upwards and out, effectively dislodging his grip, before throwing out her palms to push him away.

He stumbled, stopped and looked at her, stunned.

"Baelfire, you need to listen to me!" She shouted in frustration. "Jesus, in some ways you haven’t changed at all! You can be so childish sometimes,"

"I don’t understand you. You confound me, woman, acting like you know me!" Neal was pacing like a caged animal. "Accuse me of trying to make you fall in love with me like I am not some horrid, poisonous…Beast!" He paused, hands shaking, eyes wild. "You’re a Widow!" He ran his hands exasperatedly through his hair and over his face. "A Mother!"

"Yeah," she conceded, nodding. "Yeah, I am a mother, and yeah, I sure thought I was a widow, until you took me," His eyes were frantic as he watched her, confusedly. "Baelfire, I’m not a widow. I never was. My husband died in my arms, told me to find love again. But I don’t have to,"

"Why?" his voice was wrecked and he looked distraught as she approached him, hands clutched at his sides.

"Because," she began," you are my husband," But he wasn’t looking at her, rather, out the window. "Neal?"

"The Dawn," He breathed, panic on his face. Before Emma could react, he’d enveloped her with both his arms and his grey magic. They stood together in the waters of the lake, just as the first rays of the sun glanced over it’s mirrored surface.

Before another moment could pass, Emma had turned back into a swan.

~

Killian felt the pain lance up his side as Bae ran the sharpened edge of a flaying knife down his chest. It was a thin, shallow cut and it only stung when he breathed, which, of course, was all of the time. It was the third such cut he’d received in a half an hour.

"Why’re you doing this?" Killian asked, gasping a little, ignoring the irony that he was the one asking the question during the torture session and not the other way around. "Are you mad that I kissed Emma? You did give me your leave, if you remember," Bae only answered him with another cut, and then wiped the blade on a cloth. Up until that moment, all of his actions had been languid, calm and careful, and then he moved, the blade’s tip pressing into his cheek.

"Tell me all you know about the Prince Consort. The Princess’ husband," Killian tightened his jaw. "Tell me!" The pirate turned his face away and he felt Bae move closer to him; he could feel the Dark One’s breath on his cheek. Quietly, dangerously, Bae whispered in his ear. "Tell. Me." Killian winced at the cold steel which was now pressed against his neck.   
"Well, I didn’t really fancy a shave just now, but if you’re offering-" The blade pressed hard against his windpipe, leaving a stinging in place of the cool tingle of metal. Killian hissed and his teeth clenched as he grimaced in pain.

"Fine! Fine. I’ll tell you," The blade left his skin abruptly. Killian breathed heavily in relief. "His name was Neal of Cassidy, son of Rumpelstiltskin. And he wasn’t her husband. They never married because he…he was forced to leave her. And when he left her, he left her with a son, the Prince Henry. They reunited and the reason for his abrupt departure was made clear to her, and they ‘made up’," Killian spat the last words. "I met her before he returned. I helped her, I had set my sights on her, and yet when he came back she barely even gave me the courtesy of a glance! She kept putting on about how she wasn’t ready, over and over again-" 

"I didn’t ask about you. Tell me about the lover," The tip of Bae’s knife pressed against his jugular. "Tell me how he died,"

"He died saving his no good father from a witch. He left her and I thought I might just have a chance. And even dead, he still bests me,"

"What do you mean?"

"He is you,"


	9. Chapter 8

Baelfire sat upon a branch in the tree that overlooked the lake. Emma, in her swan form was swimming listlessly and his eyes followed her progress.   
He is you.   
Pirates were notorious liars, he reminded himself over and over again, as Killian’s taunting words replayed in his head. If he was capable of love, Baelfire knew, then Emma was the one that he would choose. She did not ‘take any of his shit’, a phrase which he’d not been familiar with. When she’d first said it to him, he’d been so surprised at her use of vulgarity and un-princesslike demeanor that he’d completely missed her explanation as to the actual meaning of the phrase. She wouldn’t put up with anything less than the truth, she had explained. Emma was more than a blossom. No, she was like a plant whose leaves could be brewed for medicinal purposes, but whose berries were poisonous to eat. But the question remained. How could he possibly be her husband?

 

His disappeared from the branch and reappeared in the tower. Stopping before a pendulum, which held a near sentient aura, he spoke an invocation:   
"Tell me your truths, for I desire answers," It tittered a little in answer. "Does the Pirate tell the truth about me?" He held his breath as the pendulum swung towards his answer.

~

In the evening, he was waiting of her, like every night beforehand. After everything that had happened the evening before, Emma was anxious to return to her human form. Swimming had grown dull and it was lonely on the lake all day. She missed her son, her parents, her friends. She wanted to save Neal and just go home. Where home really was, Emma no longer knew. As long as she had her family, the where no longer seemed to matter.   
She swam in a figure eight, waiting, watching Neal sit, still as death, upon the shore. She tried to call out to him, despite knowing the trumpeting result. His gaze did not waiver, but he waved his hand and in a puff of grey magic, a deep, red rose floated before her as if it had been laid upon a mirror, petals on the blossom curling perfectly in the last dregs of sundown.   
Emma looked up at him, but he was no longer watching her. The minutes passed slowly, growing darker into the twilight. The moon’s rays filtered down onto her pinions and she felt herself changing. When she finally stood in the shallows, Emma reached down to the rose. She walked to the water’s edge, slowly, calmly, fingers playing restlessly with the leaves of the rose.   
"No one’s ever given me a rose before," She murmured. "It’s beautiful. Thank you. And thank you for saving me this morning. I don’t want to be a swan forever," He flinched a minute distance at her admission.   
"I heard a truth today," he began after a moment, "which has piqued my curiosity. Your Pirate told me something I had a hard time believing," Emma’s eyes widened and she worried at her lip with her teeth. Neal did not look up at her. “‘He is you’, where his words," Neal’s eyelids flickered. "Now, what, do your suppose, could that mean?"  
"Dunno," Emma shrugged uneasily.   
"I asked, and was given a positive answer,"  
"To what?"  
"Whether or not I was your lover…your…husband," He turned to her, eyes gazing penetratingly into her own.   
"Is that what Killian told you?" Emma asked, a little too quickly. "That you were my husband? Because that wasn’t the case," He raised a brow at her.   
"But you do not deny that I was your lover?"  
"Tell me what Hook said to you," She only demanded in return.   
"First, you must admit to me the truth," Emma could see that there would be no arguing.   
"Fine. But I’m not doing this standing up," And with that, she plopped, unceremoniously to the ground, skirts puffing up around her before gently floating down to settle around her legs. Spritely, he followed suit, crossing his legs. "Your name is Neal Cassidy and you’re the son of Rumpelstiltskin. You are the…the father of my son. And,"  
He bated his breath.   
"And the only man I could ever find Tallahassee with," Emma could sense his confusion, even before it became apparent upon his face.  
"What is Tallahassee?" Emma pulled the swan pendant up for him to see in answer to his question.   
"This, a token of true love, was born of what Tallahassee symbolized for us. You figure it out. Now," She stood, smoothing her skirts brusquely. "I’m starving. Can we eat?"She turned and began to make her way up the winding path back to the castle, leaving him to hold the product of true love.   
The product of something that Emma (his lover!) called  
Tallahassee.

~

They ate dinner in relative silence, Emma looking up at him on occasion only. Several times he’d thought to say something, but the words would halt in his mouth. He knew that she certainly believed her story to be truthful and it had been corroborated under extreme duress by the good Captain. But he could not remember any of the events that she (or he) had described. And then he hit upon an idea.   
"Tell me about your-my son,”  
"You want to know about Henry?"  
"Henry, yes. I…I want to believe what you say about me, but I cannot…I have no memory of anything,"  
"Henry is 12. He’s a bright kid, really, really good kid. He’s imaginative and he loves history and, well, fairy tales," Emma’s eyes shifted downwards. "He…I see a lot of you in him. His hair…his eyes…his smile…his hope,"  
Neal’s eyes flickered up at her in surprise at the admission.   
"Hope?"  
"Neal…" He stiffened and she cringed. "Baelfire," The moment was claustrophobic, and Emma wanted to choke on her words. "No matter what happened to Neal, no matter how bad things got for us, he always had hope. You always had hope. For us. For your father, for everyone. It wasn’t blind optimism like my parents often show, but just diligent hope that somehow, we would make things work, even if we got dirty doing it. That was Neal. That was you,"  
"Doesn’t sound like the me I know,"  
"The you that you know hasn’t been around long enough to learn himself very well. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it," Emma gave a half-hearted smile, wishing that she could see Neal’s genuine smile, his crinkled, sparkling eyes. She did not get that response, nor did she expect it, but Neal’s hope was something that she had decided had to be carried on, if not for her own sake, then, at least, for Henry’s.


	10. Chapter 9

Baelfire’s - or rather Neal’s- magic had been all that was sustaining Killian for several days. Since he had learned who he was and why he felt such a strong connection to Emma, he’d spent every moment possible with her. Their evenings had been filled with more card games and several reading sessions. Sometimes, Emma would tell him voluntarily about their life in the World Without Magic, and other times, he would prompt her for information. He loved hearing about Henry the most.

That morning, after Emma had returned to the lake, Neal had begrudgingly made his way down to the dungeons to look after his captive. He’d decided that, though Emma had not asked after the Rogue outright, she would be unhappy if anything particularly untoward were to happen to him. Yet, from everything that Neal had come to learn, it was that Killian ‘Hook’ Jones believed himself to be viable competition. It was time for that belaboured hope to come to a striking end. 

~

Killian’s head rose as the door to his cell swung open. He’d sat, rotting, in the cell now for nearly a week, food appearing regularly and drink, but he’d had no company and little light.

"Come for me at last, eh, Baelfire?"

"My name is Neal," Hook let out a silent and sarcastic ‘ah’, with a nod of his head. 

"So you’ve been convinced then. Of who you used to be. You cannot possibly fathom how undesirable it was for me to give you that information, even under duress. Tell me, does your beloved Emma know what you’ve done with me? I can’t imagine that she’d be particularly pleased with you, were she to learn that I’m still here," The threat in his voice was laid bare. Neal, who had been looking down and off to the side, let his eyes flicker upwards briefly. Back when he’d had all of his memories, that look on him might have been one of shyness or modesty. On this Neal, it was quietly murderous. 

"You will desist your persual of Emma,"

"Why, has she asked that I do so? I thought that Miss. Swan could speak for herself,"

"She hasn’t mentioned you at all, actually. I think she might have forgotten you. But I’ve heard things, Pirate. The whole of my history laid bare in a matter of hours, condensed into a story. I’ve heard that you cause my mother to abandon me, that my father murdered her, and that you lied to me as a child. You seem a very selfish individual, and though I can’t speak for the Neal that you knew, I can certainly say from experience that I know selfish when I see it. And I’m inclined to be so right now. I’ll make you a deal, yes? And deal’s have consequences. Deal with me and I will allow you to go free. I’ll even deposit you where you wish, leave you in pristine condition, if you give up on Emma. If you refuse, well, I don’t have to send you food, now do I? I have such a kind heart to provide for my prisoners. I will not be so kindly always," Killian glared at Neal, but he wasn’t finished. "You have one day to think. I’ll be back, and you can give me your answer,"

"I’ll give you my answer now!" Killian shouted at Neal’s retreating figure. He turned at Killians words, and, with a rush of momentum, slammed the other man against the wall.

"You have one day. I suggest you use it. To think,"

And before he could retort, the cell door slammed and Neal was gone, and Killian was left wondering if Emma had told Neal about their good times too.

~

Emma was beginning to wonder how Belle had ever gotten to the point where a kiss could break Rumpelstiltskin’s curse. Even with the help that knowing Neal’s past gave her, Emma was beginning to wish she could ask the other woman for assistance. How would she know when it would work? Would it work? Since their confession to one another over the portal, Emma had not doubted Neal’s love for her. Usually, it was her own love that was cast into doubt. She wasn’t used to not being able to count on Neal to love her, unconditionally and irrevocably. When they had first gotten together, it had been like that. Now, she was shaky on both counts and the constant flux and emotional raggedness was starting to run her down.

Before she could show Neal how much she loved him, Emma would have to show herself.

They lay together, on the shore by the water. He’d conjured a blanket for them to recline on. Where they had both started on their backs, gazing at the stars, she’d gradually curled closer to him, throwing and arm over his chest, craving the comfort and warmth she’d gone so long without. She pushed thoughts of Walsh out of her head. The truth about his was so absurd, she’d basically bypassed the hurt that it had caused. For once, Emma was glad that Neal could not remember the stinging pain that had accompanied Tamara’s betrayal.

"You always loved stargazing," She murmured into the rich brocade of his coat. "We used to sit on the hood of the bug and just watch the stars. You knew everything about them. You told me every legend. Said it was a pastime for the road, that if you knew the sky above you, wherever you were could feel like home. You always said philosophical stuff like that. I remember wondering why you weren’t getting a Lit degree at come college somewhere," She lay comfortable now, her head on his chest.   
Neal absorbed what meaning he could from the references to the Land Without Magic.

"Your Neal sounds like a very introspective person,"

"You mean you are an introspective person," She corrected him, lifting a hand to brush the hair from his forehead. The movement of her fingers was gentle and soft against his skin, and he wondered if the sharp, often fierce and unrelenting Emma Swan had always shown this side of herself to him freely. Was he alone in being allowed to see her tender capacity, or were there others?

"Very well, I concede defeat," She snorted at his wording.

"God, you talk funny. You’re going to be horrified when you have your memories back,"

It took several quiet minutes before either of them realized that she’d said when, and not if.

~

"I concede, Bae. I concede," Hook said to the empty room. "Baelfire,"   
Neal appeared before him, bemused surprise on his face.

"I see you’ve called me early with your decision. Very well. Where would you like me to send you then? To your ship, the Jolly Roger? To the Charming’s Kingdom?"

"The Charming’s Palace will do quite nicely, thank you. I believe I’ve some, er, reporting to do,"

"The Charming’s it is then,"

When Killian opened his eyes, he stood in the courtyard of charming’s palace, as if he’d never left, the only difference being his queasy stomach, an after effect of the traveling magic. He raced up the stone steps and into the castle. The Pirate found Charming and Snow and the others in the council room, just as he’d suspected they’d be. Charming looked neither happy, nor surprised.

"You never sent the horse back," The Prince said accusingly.

"Well, I’m very sorry about that, but I’ve worse news for you than a lost horse. Emma is with Neal, but he’s put a curse on her,"

"A curse!?"

"You’ve seen Mom?"

"What sort of curse?"

"Can it be broken?"

The questions all flew out at him at once, and Killian put his hands out, placatingly.

"Please, please, let me explain. He’s turned her into a Swan. Every night she returns to being a human. I won’t get into the specifics of it, as it doesn’t really matter. Only true love can break her curse, and only true love can break his. I went there to try and free her, to see if maybe…" Killian shook his head sadly. "But it matters not. None of us will be any help to them. I only just escaped Neal’s dungeon with my life. I made a bargain, a deal. One I must keep," He looked pointedly at Rumpelstiltskin. "You know how deals work,"

"So what do we do? Wait, like we figured in the first place," Snow curled an arm around Henry’s shoulders.

"It appears so, though it may not be much longer,"

"Good," Henry nodded his head once with determination. "I want to meet my Dad,"

Killian sighed as the group dispersed. He’d made the bargain. Now he would have to live with the consequences.


	11. Chapter 10

"Neal?" He looked up, still unused to hearing his chosen name.

"What is it, Princess," Emma cringed at his usage of her formal title.

"Could you, umm, draw me up a bath? I mean I know I’m the Lake all day, but I’d just like a warm soak,"

"Anything your heart desires,"

It had been hours ago that he’d complied without hesitation to her wish. Neal had sat, waiting by the fireplace, trying to read a book. Images of Emma’s smiling eyes broke his concentration on a repeated basis, and so he’d been on the same page for several minutes. He looked up as he felt Emma’s presence enter the room. Her hair was damp and she’d put her silver gown back on. For several months, he had expected her to complain about the clothing, but she had endured without a word and in return he’d made sure that her dress was clean and spotless, renewed to it’s original perfection, every night when she transformed.

"Feel better?" he asked rhetorically, not waiting for an answer. "You look stunning," She smiled at his words, feeling self conscious at his appraisal of her. Incrementally, Emma had begun to notice the change in him, bits and pieces of his words starting to remind her of the Neal she’d loved.

His phrasing was still medieval in tonnage. Her eyes twinkled at the thought. She sat down on the hearth, letting her hair dry by the fire.They were silent and still for several moments, Emma twisting a strand of her hair absently, while Neal stared blankly at his book pages. 

"You know," Emma began softly, "I used to love Disney movies. They were these, um, moving pictures that people had drawn and the told all the fairy tale stories that are true here in this world. They were mostly musicals. I never really cared for them until I met you, because I’d been so wrecked for a happy ending, growing up without parents. You gave me new hope. After you left, I hated them again. And then, during the past year with Henry, when I didn’t remember anything, he brought back all the good memories that I had of them," She paused to giggle for a moment. "You, you used to ask me what my favourite song was, and I never wanted to tell you. God, you tried tickling me into telling you and I just wouldn’t do it and you couldn’t understand why. I gave you every title but the one that you wanted to hear. You knew they weren’t my favourite. You could tell. Henry did the same thing, asking me for my favourite. I never told him either.

And then, one time, you came back from a legitimate supply run with the bottle of Chardonnay and we drank the whole thing. I was so tipsy. We were camped out beneath the stars and I asked you, if I told you the song, would you dance with me. You were always saying how you loved to dance. God though! That night you were absolutely terrible at it. You were laughing and I was giggling between the words and it was terrible,” Emma blushed. “It was one of the best nights we ever had together. I’ll never forget,”

"What was this song?" Neal asked curious.

"You won’t know it, you know," Emma lowered her eyes.

"Sing it for me. We could dance properly," She balked at his suggestion.

"I’m really terrible at singing, you know. It wasn’t just because I was drunk," She sighed and they both stood. "Fine. I’ll, uh, do my best. It’s um, it’s a waltz," Emma began to hum the opening notes as he grasp her hand in his, and her waist in the other, leading. He leaned his head in, whispering at her ear.

"The words?" Hesitantly, Emma began.

"I know you, I’ve walked with you once upon a dream…" The tune, so familiar to Emma, flowed from her lips like a bird’s song and they swirled across the floor. When the song’s lyrics had ended, Emma fell back into the humming, and their movements stilled to a gentle, intimate sway.

Once more, he bent his head to tickle at her ear with his words.

"I knew you. Somehow. I did. I was drawn to you. Something in me had to have you near, from the first," he took her hand and led her to sit in their chairs once more. "I still don’t remember, but my soul, my blackened heart, it knows you," They sat in comfortable silence for what seemed lik an age before Neal finally spoke once more, earnestly. "Initially, I kept our piratical friend locked in the dungeons. Yesterday, I sent him back to your parents, unharmed. I…I knew you wouldn’t like that I’d locked him away. It isn’t a crime that he should love you, though it’s like a knife to my gut every moment I remember his kiss on your lips. It was right to let him go,"

"Oh Neal," Emma felt her heart soar in a way she’d not allowed it to since she’d first agreed to drinks with him that fateful day in Portland. "That sounds like the man I know. Selfless to a fault. You gave your life without hesitation, your happiness, everything," His eyes flickered out the windows to the lightening sky.

"Come. We should get you to the lake,"

~

 

They stood on the shore, and watched the sun encroach upon them. Emma waded into the chilled waters, and, holding her hand, Neal followed, trailing behind her.

"Emma, I…" he hesitated, lost in her gaze. She put a hand to his cheek.

"Aren’t you going to kiss me good morning?"

"Emma, I love you," his words were breathy, his face inches from her own. She traced the black veins that shown so prominently on his once unblemished skin.

"I love you too," her words where a whisper, nearly catching in her throat.

As the sun’s first rays lit upon the glassy lake, Emma’s lips met Neal’s. Her eyes had shut tight in anticipation of the twisting, reforming magic, but it never came. Instead, she felt the familiar warmth of true love’s magic, light and sunny, flowing both out and over her. The transformations would never come again, nor the horrible night terrors that had accompanied each and every one. He’d broken her curse.

Emma opened her eyes, nervous. Before her, stood Neal. He was breathing heavily, shuddering at the effect. He stumbled backwards and Emma watched as the patches of light magic ate away at the black veins she’d traced only moments before. The magic shimmered across him until no more of the curse’s poison remained.

Emma waited with baited breath as Neal’s breathing settles and his eyes fluttered open.

"Emma?" he exhaled. "Emms?" His eyes were wide and his mouth twitched. She felt tears welling at her eyes.

"Yes, Neal,"

"I remember, Emms," He seemed overwhelmed, but a smile broadened across his face. "I remember everything. Emma bit her lip, and the tears spilled over, falling freely.

"I love you, Neal, I love you I love you I love you," They rushed at one another, his hands cupping her face tenderly as the pressed together in a furious kiss, her hands tangling desperately in his hair. Between kisses, half spoken ‘I love you”s permeated the air. When they had run out of breath, the pressed foreheads together, noses touching in tender intimacy.

"You wanna go home to our kid?" Neal’s smile reached up to his twinkling eyes, and their laughter was punctuated by the remains of joyous tears.

"Yeah. Let’s go home,"

"Hey, babe," he murmured softly. "You’re my Tallahassee, you know? My only Tallahassee. I’m home,’s’long’s I’ve got you,"

"You big sap," Emma groused good naturedly, but her face grew serious. "I could only ever tell you how much I loved you when I was losing you. I was afraid, Neal, afraid to grow close. I let you in again. I’m not afraid anymore,"

~

"Guess what, Babe?" Neal asked as they packed some essentials, later that day, into a satchel for traveling. He winked, throwing and arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him as they stood.

"What?" She replied with an air of curiosity. He leaned in, conspiring, and held up two tiny bottles, one a piece between his thumb and forefinger.

"I know how to make a memory potion for Henry. When I sent the dove to Killian with the potion for you to drink, so you would remember and be able to save us from Zelena, I was able to see all the ingredients clearly. Papa knows how to make the potion. All we’ve got to do is bring him the ingredients,"

"It was you!" She shouted, elated. "We bickered over that for ages. Hook thought that my parents had sent it, and we just…had no clue? I’m lucky I have such an observant boyfriend,"

He smirked at her, self satisfied as a tom cat.

"Well, you know, street smarts and all. I’ve got quite the reputation to protect. I’m not sure that your parents are gonna want me hanging around, Babe. I’m bad news,"

"Right. My parents are just going to love you,"

~


	12. Epilogue

The days had passed by drearily in the Charming’s realm since the return of Hook. Regina, on the second day, claimed to feel lighter, but she shook it off as a fluke, because she claimed to still feel the same amount of dark magic overall in the realm. 

So, when a cry went up in the lower town that a horse and rider bearing the royal banner and a mysterious lady riding behind were seen heading through the closest town outside the castle walls, the ones who had waited so patiently to see Emma and Neal began to secretly make preparations for two new arrivals. 

Two days after the news arrived, they heard the heralds trumpeting a royal arrival. The castle’s more prominent figures had rushed out and onto the platform overlooking the square. Two horses rose up, the first rider carrying the kingdom’s flag, true to reports. The man sat tall on the horse, his face open and unobscured. Rumpelstiltskin let out a quiet noise. Obvious to anyone who knew him, the man was Neal. The woman riding behind him wore a shimmering cloak and her face could not be identified, a hood obscuring her features. Neal dismounted, tied off his horse and, carrying the flag in one hand, took the lady’s reigns in his other and led the horse to a respectful distance from the royal overlook. 

"My King!" His voice carried, ringing out clear in the hush that have come over the crowd. 

"Speak," It was Charming’s regal tones that weighed heavy in the air. Though Neal bore none of the marks of the curse, he wasn’t about to take any chances. 

"I am Baelfire, sometimes known as Neal of Cassidy, Son of Rumpelstiltskin and husband to Crown Princess Emma and Prince Consort of this kingdom. I herald now, her Royal Highness, Princess Emma," He gestured with the hand which had lately held her horse’s reigns towards to woman and she lowered her hood. It was indeed Emma. Charming took a shaky breath. The dress she wore was the same one which he had seen her in during his vision of their dance. Emma’s jaw was set, though she looked nervous. 

"My King, My Queen," she began and a practiced and unwavering tone.

"I ask that you accept my husband into your realm and under your banner," her voice did not quaver. It was Snow who spoke next. 

"We accept. 

~

The reunion was a surprisingly muted affair. Emma and her parents had embraces and Henry through his arms around her at first chance, and hadn’t let do. Neal and Rumpelstiltskin held each other’s gaze respectfully before embracing tentatively. Belle had taken Neal’s face in her hands, drawn it down to her level and kissed his forehead in a motherly fashion. 

Henry watched Neal from where he had sequestered himself into his mother’s side. The moment all initial greetings ended, they were herded into the council chamber, where the Charming’s usual council and friends waited. Regina and Robin stood to the side, and Killian lurked in a corner. 

The moment the doors closed behind Rumpel, chatter broke the silence, questions flying from nearly every mouth. 

"Please! Hush! Everyone. All will be answered in due time," Charming spoke in a authoritative tone. "Neal, you look like you’ve got something to say. But first, on behalf of all here, we’re really glad that you’re back," 

"Thank you, David. I’m glad to be back too," Neal held up two small bottles. "Pappa," he looked at his father. "These are the ingredients to Zelena’s memory potion. We can use them for Henry. Before we say anything, I ask you to make it," Rumpel let out a sigh. 

"Alas, Son, I cannot. I’ve no longer got the power. However, I can instruct Regina how to create it," Rumpelstiltskin offered. Neal nodded. 

"That’d be great. Thank you, Pappa,"

"And in the mean time, I think I’d like to change. I’ve been wearing this dress a lot longer than I ever wanted to be - no offense Neal, it really is pretty, it’s just not, well-"

"You. I know that. But I didn’t when I put you in it," He winked at her jokingly. 

"Neal," She hissed.

"What?" He shrugged, smirking. "It’s true,"Emma only shook her head as Snow led them to their rooms.

~

"Emma,"

"Hmmm?"

"Babe,"

"What is it?" Emma turned to see Neal, standing in the doorway of her room. She’d pulled on some of her mothers soft suede trousers and an embroidered tunic. Both of the clothing articles were white, and Emma was beginning to wonder if most of her mother’s wardrobe was a colour to match her name. 

"You look stunning, baby," 

"Well, thanks," She pulled her boots on, struggling with the heal. 

"Want some help with that?" He leaned up against the door frame, smiling as he admired her form. 

"No. And stop looking at my ass. I can kick your butt you know,"

"Not looking at your ass. Looking at your smile,"

"Verrry different location. And remember. I’ve got a superpower and I know when you’re lying,” She gave him a bemused look, and he threw back his head and laughed, the most joyous sound that she had heard in a long time. 

"Emma,"

"What Neal?"

"Emma, marry me,"

"I…Neal…"

"I love you, Emma, I’ve loved you till the end of my life, or at least, what I thought was my life, more than once. And I just think that, after everything, if I wait any longer, I’ll lose you again before I’ve got the chance to be with you at all. Marry me,"

~

They had congregated once more in the council room, and when Henry saw Neal, he ran at his father, and they hugged tightly.

"Dad!" There were tears in Neal’s eyes and on Henry’s lashes and Neal pulled Henry in closer to him, kissing the top of his head over and over.

"My son, my son, oh God, Henry," Emma looked on, smiling, and resting one hand on Henry’s shoulder. 

"Hey, Kid. It’s good to have you back,"

"I love you too, Mom," He held her hand, unwilling to be parted from Neal’s now one armed hug. "So, how’d you do it? How’d you break Dad’s curse? I mean, obviously you kissed her, but how’d you do it? I want to know how Operation Eagle became a success,"

"Operation Eagle?" Emma asked curiously. 

"Yeah, because…" Henry trailed off, mumbling. 

"Because what?"

"I dunno. Because Eagles are cool and they have really good eyes looking for stuff and Mom, you were looking for Dad and all…" Emma and Neal looked at one another knowingly. It was obvious that Henry wasn’t telling the truth, but Emma let it slide.

"Henry. We’ve got something to tell you. Well, something to tell all of you really," Emma hashed the words, and Neal, who and loosed Henry’s grip around his middle, came behind her and reached his arms up and under hers, grasping her hands in his. 

"Emma and I are getting married,"

"Awe yeah! Operation Eagle is a double success!" Henry punched the air and then ambushed his parents with glee. 

"You, uh, should call it Operation Swan, buddy," Neal suggested. "Eagles aren’t the only avians that mate for life, Henry,"

~

Emma eyes felt heavy. The night had been a long one, and she’d barely gotten a wink of sleep. The morning would be just as busy as the night had been, without a moment for herself. Well, a moment for herself and her-

“Morning, Wife, how’r you feelin. I’ve got a headache like I fell from a roof doing a remake of a Chaplain film,”

“You’re such a lightweight, Cassidy,”

“Emms? Babe?”

“Yes Neal?”

“ I love you baby. God, I love you so much,”

“Neal, you’re being sappy,”

“Emms. Emma, I want to spend all day with you and all of tomorrow with Henry and every day after that with both of you and we’re gonna-“

“Neal!”

“What?”

“You know your dad’s getting married to Belle, rights?” Emma let the sentence out with no hesitation, and Neal only made a quiet whining sound in the back of his throat.

Peace at last. And in more ways than one.

The End?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's it. I'm sorry it took so long. I wrote this and posted initially on tumblr, and people sent me in time stamp requests and things, so eventually I'll post those too. 
> 
> Stay Tuned For: Once Upon a New York Skyline (working title), a rewrite of Season 3b


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